1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electronic apparatus and, in a preferred embodiment thereof, more particularly relates to apparatus and methods for dissipating component operating heat in electronic devices such as computers.
2. Description of Related Art
As the increasingly popular notebook computer continues to be provided with higher speed electronic components and correspondingly greater computing power and functionality, the need to sufficiently dissipate operating heat from high heat generating components in the computer becomes correspondingly greater.
As conventionally constructed, a notebook computer has a base housing, within which the primary heat generating components (such as the computer's microprocessor) are disposed, and a substantially thinner display lid housing pivotally connected to the base housing with a hinge structure. One previously proposed solution to this heat dissipation problem has been to utilize a heat pipe structure to transfer operating heat from a component within the computer base housing, such as the microprocessor, to the display lid housing for dissipation therefrom to ambient when the computer is operating and the lid housing is in its open position.
Previously proposed heat pipe-based structures used to perform this base-to-lid heat transfer function have been incorporated in or positioned adjacent the computer lid hinge structure for relative pivotal movement between base and lid portions of the heat transfer structure in response to the opening and closing of the lid. These previously utilized heat pipe-based heat transfer structures have typically carried with them the undesirable characteristics of complexity, relatively high weight and cost, and rather involved assembly requirements.
A need thus exists for an improved heat pipe-based hinge area heat transfer apparatus and associated methods that eliminate or at least substantially minimize these disadvantages. It is to this need that the present invention is directed.